Didn't watch the game so these stills are all I have seen, so it's hard without reference, but presuming Franklin is standing in line between goals and the Geelong player, the Cat player looks to have landed and be standing roughly where the mark was. So Franklin is on the defensive side of him (which it would appear from the other posters comments), then Franklin hasn't even made it to the mark yet, let alone crossed it.

Premiership Player

Didn't watch the game so these stills are all I have seen, so it's hard without reference, but presuming Franklin is standing in line between goals and the Geelong player, the Cat player looks to have landed and be standing roughly where the mark was. So Franklin is on the defensive side of him (which it would appear from the other posters comments), then Franklin hasn't even made it to the mark yet, let alone crossed it.

Premiership Player

Nobodies disputing that Buddy was over the mark at some point it's the fact that the umpire called the 50 so fast Buddy had no chance to correct his positioning plus the umpire never told him to get back like they do every other time.

Ah. It would appear to be a 100% correct call then. Thought that line was the 50m arc from the way both players shaped up.

The reason why Franklin wasn't called back by the umpire is he came from side-on - not from behind. He was never in a safe position, so couldn't be called "back".

If a defender comes from behind the mark, but goes over the mark "in play" (ie attempting to spoil, or just trailing in the leading forward) the umpire will give him some opportunity to come back, and correct them if they have encroached ("back 2m") without penalty. Often if they do not influence the next play it is ignored anyway.

If a defender comes from the side or behind, they will be penalised instantly unless they do one of two specific actions - freeze and remove themselves from the play (ie hands behind back/turn back on play - saw McVeigh do that a week ago to great effect), or immediately turn and leave the danger area.

Bless

Seriously. He flat out gets the game wrong. Pays the very shifty ones, doesn't pay the obvious. Will pull out a technical free kick but when someone is dead to rights for marking infringement, throwing or HTB he'll put the whistle away. Just unreal how he still manages to actually get a gig.

Club Legend

Surely can't get to the big dance. Although GWS were merely hanging by a thread and only a couple of goals down, that "fail to show intent to keep the ball in play" decision from the "BHF" was the start of the end for GWS and himself. His decision making over the next 10 minutes was nothing short of abysmal. Ryan had some shockers and Meredith, who's not much better, just had to stay out of trouble to earn a Grand Final Spot. The best umpire in the game was Razor and he was the emergency.

Stevic will get a game because he seems to be the AFL golden child and enforcer.
Rosebury will probably get a shot although he's no better than Ryan.
Meredith will probably get the last spot.

Wouldn't give Nicholls a ticket to get in. The further away he is from the ground, the better.

Club Legend

Surely can't get to the big dance. Although GWS were merely hanging by a thread and only a couple of goals down, that "fail to show intent to keep the ball in play" decision from the "BHF" was the start of the end for GWS and himself. His decision making over the next 10 minutes was nothing short of abysmal. Ryan had some shockers and Meredith, who's not much better, just had to stay out of trouble to earn a Grand Final Spot. The best umpire in the game was Razor and he was the emergency.

Stevic will get a game because he seems to be the AFL golden child and enforcer.
Rosebury will probably get a shot although he's no better than Ryan.
Meredith will probably get the last spot.

Wouldn't give Nicholls a ticket to get in. The further away he is from the ground, the better.

Should have been rewarded with a goal for outbodying his opponent in a 1 on 1. I understand the concept of blocking but this was the classic case of shepherding a long bomb over the goal line, only 5-10 metres further out. Depending on the bounce it could very well have skidded through for a goal. Where's the consistency?

Yeah, that's pretty bad. I hate this interpretation of a block where the ball and the two players are all in a line. Basically turned his back on his opponent and let his opponent run into him - his opponent was allowed to run around him. Didn't cut across the path or come in at an angle.

BigFooty Tanker

Yeah, that's pretty bad. I hate this interpretation of a block where the ball and the two players are all in a line. Basically turned his back on his opponent and let his opponent run into him - his opponent was allowed to run around him. Didn't cut across the path or come in at an angle.

THE BEAST

So after reading this thread it seems like the consensus is that every umpire is horrible. Do you expect umpires to possess some sort of omnipotence? As it turns out umpires are just regular people like everyone else - they can't get it right all the time and they certainly can't see everything thats going on. If you have a problem with the officiating then don't blame the umpires, blame the inadequacies of the system.

I see complaints but I don't see any of you guys offering suggestions in how their job can be made easier to achieve better consistency.

Club Legend

I was amazed Nicholls paid that free. He’s got history with Port, most recently the game against Hawthorn. When I saw his name during the week I went into meltdown. He’s absolutely the worst umpire in the league.

That's a Barry Crocker ,Melksham gets contact first from the defender around the shoulder then Nicholls has the audacity to pay a 50 after Melksham kicks the goal thinking he got the free.
Nicholls,you are insipid.

Usually the poor umpiring this year has been from swallowed whistles which Richmond supporters have seen in abundance,Dan Rioli being the recipient of a fistful of jumper,"play,play on" say the rorters in fluro.

Jack R.,blocked so many times in marking contests,more swallowed whistles.

I'm predicting umpires will be playing Santa Claus this December from the amount of swallowed whistles.

Can't wait to see the sewerage sandwich we are dished up this Thursday night.